Two suicide bombers struck in Yemen on Thursday — one targeting a gathering of rebels in the country’s capital and the other hitting a military outpost in the south — in attacks that killed at least 50 people, officials said.
The bombings underscore Yemen’s highly volatile situation amid a Shiite rebel blitz that has stunned the nation and reshaped the country’s political landscape.
At least 30 people died when a suicide attacker set off his explosives Thursday in central Sanaa, targeting a gathering of supporters of the rebel Houthis, who overran the capital in an offensive last month, security and hospital officials said.
The bomber mingled among the protesters in the morning hours as they were getting ready for the rally in the landmark Tahrir Street, before he detonated his explosives, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.
The second bombing took place on the outskirts of the southern port city of Mukalla in Hadarmout province when a suicide car bomber rammed his car against a security outpost, killing at least 20 soldiers and wounding 15, the officials said.
Hadarmout is one of several strongholds of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, considered by Washington to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack, but both bore the hallmarks of Al Qaeda, which has for years staged suicide bombings against army troops, security personnel and government facilities.
Last week, Al Qaeda in Yemen warned it would target the Houthis and called on the country’s Sunnis to close ranks and fight the rebels.
The Houthis had called the Sanaa rally to protest President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s choice for new prime minister, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak.
As the crisis escalated, the prime minister-designate asked Hadi early on Thursday to relieve him of the post. But despite the suicide bombing and bin Mubarak declining the premiership, the rally went on later Thursday, with some 4,000 Houthis calling on Hadi to step down and chanting slogans against the United States and Saudi Arabia.
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